The present invention relates broadly to floor-standing home appliances and, more particularly, to a home appliance, in the nature of a range, having a two-piece support assembly.
Ranges are generally box-like, floor-standing appliances that include some form of leg support mounted at four corners of the range body. In whatever form, such support should be adjustable so that the height of the range can be varied for appearance and leveling purposes. To that end, some ranges include threaded apertures in the range frame for receiving threaded cylinders that can support the range on a floor and may be rotated in and out of the apertures to adjust the height of the range.
Some ranges are also relatively heavy, weighing more than five hundred (500) pounds. Such weight concentration, on the average of one hundred twenty five (125) pounds per corner, presuming even distribution of weight, can cause difficulties for using threaded cylinders, such as bolts, for support legs. In general, a bolt will be strong enough to support the weight of the range. However, the bolt head presents a small footprint and therefore a high concentration of weight in the form of pressure on the support surface, usually a kitchen floor, which can be damaging to the floor.
Accordingly, feet or shoes have been applied to threaded cylindrical members to make support legs for ranges. Such custom leg structures can be unnecessarily expensive to manufacture and use.
There accordingly exists a need for a support leg assembly that can use a standard bolt and still provide a shoe or foot with a sufficiently large footprint to effectively distribute the weight of a heavy range.